#UNC's Hubert Davis and Ven-Allen Lubin after the Tar Heels' win over Wake Forest.
Mar 13, 2025
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0:11
water are you good I'm good thank
0:14
okay thank you very start us off by two
0:17
questions
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okay okay we're open up with two
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questions for Coach Davis then we'll
0:24
take questions for the uh players who
0:27
has the first question
0:35
wait for the microphone please thank you
0:36
so much thank you I'm so sorry I'm
0:38
Caroline with the daily torill Huber as
0:40
you were facing as your team was facing
0:42
so much physicality and playing with
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foul trouble what was just your message
0:45
to
0:47
them well um you know just
0:52
that you know we're built for that you
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know we've um in the locker room just
0:58
telling them uh so proud of how they've
1:03
stayed connected stayed the course
1:04
through ups and downs
1:07
perseverance there's a level of
1:08
toughness here that has been developed
1:11
over the last seven or eight months that
1:14
we've been together
1:19
and we were in these type of situations
1:22
earlier in the year and weren't able to
1:26
to get
1:27
stronger and we're able to do it today
1:31
and as a coach to be able to
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see these
1:35
guys perform under pressure and do it
1:40
together is one of the most amazing
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things that you can see as a
1:45
coach back of the room Hubert right back
1:48
here sorry Brendon marks from the
1:49
athletic you mentioned obviously you
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guys have been in these experiences a
1:52
bunch of times before obviously it's
1:54
tied with three and a half minutes to go
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how much do you attribute those last
1:57
three and a half minutes to the growth
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of the team and how much do you
2:00
contribute to the banked experiences
2:02
that you guys had in those late game
2:04
situations through the first couple of
2:05
months I think both I mean I think being
2:08
in that situation so many times you can
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draw upon those experiences where it
2:15
worked out and where it didn't and so be
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that type of
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situation these guys now step towards it
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as opposed to standing still or maybe
2:27
taking a step back and sometimes you you
2:30
still the outcome doesn't go your way
2:34
but down in the stretch is the
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discipline and details to be able to
2:38
execute on both ends of the floor we
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didn't turn the ball over we executed we
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scored and on the defensive end we
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defended didn't foul and didn't didn't
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give them Second Chance opportunities
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that's the game and that's a game
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earlier in the year that we lost and I
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think it shows tremendous growth in
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where we are right now okay now we take
2:57
questions for uh Van Allen
3:00
front
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row Stephen Arthur Virginia Tech
3:06
television Vin Allen you had those two
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huge dunks under the two minutes in the
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in the end of the game what were the
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emotions kind of like for you as you
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practically put the dagger in uh it was
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just electric you know and just U making
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plays like that uh just knowing that
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coach always emphasized of going to
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offensive boards is getting us you know
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Second Chance opportunities uh just the
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way I just kind of wanted attack the rim
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and give you know our team a chance to
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you know give us a win you know it was
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very important that you know I just had
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to make those two dunks third row to our
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left Bob holiday wwl.com Van Allen you
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had a 10 points 13 rebounds three four
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blocks um and a lot of what you did came
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after you got your fourth foul uh was
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there uh any increased emotion what was
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your mind set after you got the fourth
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foul and particularly wake Force went
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with three bigs at the end how did you
3:59
get by for those two rebound slams yeah
4:02
you know it was obviously frustrating
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getting those four fouls and just
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knowing that you have to play smart and
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you know just not trying to play too
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physical to get your fifth one and to
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set out the game uh we just know it's
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really important for me just to play
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smart and just to stay stay in it you
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know so I just make sure I stay and stay
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present and just know I can do just try
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to do whatever I can back right uh Hi V
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Michael Co wch on Chapel bar.com when
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you see your head coach uh get a
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technical foul late in the second half I
4:28
didn't get it the bench that wasn't me
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the bench yeah that wasn't me sorry
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hbert my bad I got one against Michigan
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State my bad
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hbert uh when you see the bench get a
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technical foul then what kind of effect
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did that have on the team did that sort
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of you know catalyze you to make that
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big late game run to put the game away
4:48
no I mean you know that's just part of
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the game you know those type of you know
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situation happens you know we just the
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Five Guys on the court just kind of just
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you know stay together just know like no
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matter what happens you know this just
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finish out the game the right way you
5:00
know make the right plays and offensive
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end and get some STS on defensive side
5:04
and then that would really determine the
5:06
game front real hey Ben and Steve Reed
5:09
with the Associated Press um obviously
5:12
there's a lot of talk Bubble Watch and
5:14
how much do you guys talk about that as
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players and did you talk about it coming
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into this tournament that you might have
5:19
to get to the semifinals and and do you
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think you're in uh no there's not really
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much talk at least you know for me and
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you know from the guys you know just
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really just taking a one game at a time
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you know just facing our opponent you
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know right in front of us um and just
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kind of keeping our head forward you
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know staying grounded and just knowing
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that we got another opportunity tomorrow
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and so that's our main focus right now
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back of the room Vin Allen dick Cox with
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ly Sports and Cox sports broadcasting as
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a big guy playing inside do you like a
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physical game like that or is it hard to
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do your job when it's that physical I
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mean as long as it's physical and fair
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then you know I can I can rock with it
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but you know uh that's sometimes going
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to go our way sometime it doesn't so
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it's just playing through you know the
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physicality and the toughness and just
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really just showing you know how tough
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we really are and I believe we show that
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four throw in the AIS Van Allen Ashley
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Mahoney with axio Charlotte you
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mentioned of course being focused on the
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team that's right in front of you and
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the path to the championship will go
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through Duke what are your thoughts on
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having to face them again just knowing
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that we want we want that you know we
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want that competition we want you know
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our revenge against them you know and so
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just gave us another opportunity just to
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to get a win against them and just to
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play a really great team just to give us
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a chance to play in the championship
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the rim Van Allen um when R uh Alex zler
6:33
with the Charlotte Observer when RJ
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twist rolls his ankle and he insists on
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staying in the game and then ultimately
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makes a couple plays down the
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stretch what does that mean to you as a
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teammate that just show the type of
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player he is and the type of person he
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is just the the toughness that he he
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just goes through through adversity and
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just uh just a play through it you know
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it's not easy you know playing on a
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herur ankle or just you know being
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injured you know but just his toughness
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that he showed on the court just to be
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able to stay in and just you know play
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through it you know really just show the
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type of player he is and that's
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something that we really need just a
7:07
player like that any other questions for
7:10
vanin Allen front row last
7:13
one Vin Allen you had those 13 rebounds
7:17
during the game what was kind of the
7:19
strategy to keep in Keen Eye on the ball
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I just going you know was really just
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trying to get inside position and just
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really just tracking the ball in the air
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uh just really important for me just to
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know just to get get those Second Chance
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opportunities on offensive side and on
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defensive end just to limit them to one
7:33
one shot and so it really just for me
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just to you know uh assert myself and in
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the paint and just grab those ball okay
7:40
Van Allen thank you I head back to the
7:42
locker room the Carolina locker room is
7:43
open till 5:38 we'll now take questions
7:46
for Coach Davis first one second r or
7:49
right coach Brett freedlander Saturday
7:51
down south um Hubert I know you
7:53
addressed this a little on Saturday but
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could you kind of address the the
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urgency that that RJ seems to be playing
8:00
with right now and how that just kind of
8:01
carries over to everybody else well I I
8:06
yeah there is an urgency because you
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know he has no more eligibility left but
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there's also a um also a sense of
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calmness um and
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steadiness that this team has needed all
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year long and um especially in
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situations like you know late game
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having a guy like RJ that's been there
8:27
done that before and being able to draw
8:30
on his experience and how calm he is and
8:32
be able to execute Under Pressure um
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just helps out our team so much and um
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you have to have people you have to have
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leaders like that on the team and I
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can't think of anyone better than that
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than
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RJ back right uh Hubert Michael Co wchl
8:50
not my technical not your technical uh
8:52
what can you say about the performances
8:54
of Jay wit and Vin I mean they both had
8:56
their shooting struggles early on in the
8:57
game but they both made critical plays
9:00
uh throughout the game without scoring
9:01
and also late in the game in that run
9:03
what can you say about their performance
9:05
in the front Court yeah you know that's
9:06
one of the things that you know we talk
9:08
about is there's so many ways that you
9:12
can be impactful out there on the floor
9:14
to help your team win winning plays is
9:17
not just scoring there's rebounding
9:20
talking on defense diving on loose balls
9:23
getting steals deflections making a free
9:25
throw all those different types of
9:27
things being able to execute and so
9:29
again and when you have you know Vin's a
9:31
junior Jay wits 50the senior that type
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of
9:35
experience um they've been in tight
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situations before and and feel
9:39
comfortable about stepping up and making
9:41
plays in those
9:42
situations back
9:44
left coach um Duke and UNCC facing once
9:48
again this year three times now they
9:51
faced you guys have faced each other a
9:53
lot in the ACC tournament in the past do
9:55
you want to touch up on the history of
9:57
that or is it just another game for
9:58
y'all
10:02
well I mean
10:04
I gosh I don't I don't think we haven't
10:07
played them since I've been head
10:09
coaching ACC I don't I don't think so
10:11
but I mean playing Duke is um it's an
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opportunity to play against the number
10:17
one team in the country obviously
10:19
they're playing extremely well uh we
10:21
just played them last week on senior
10:23
night on our home floor and we're
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excited about the opportunity to be able
10:27
to compete against them uh tomorrow
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night at
10:30
7 back left uh Hubert Brian Murphy with
10:34
wrl uh this league obviously in the past
10:37
has gotten so many teams in the NCAA
10:38
tournament sort of going five you know
10:40
above 500 in this league would put you
10:42
in automatically what has changed and
10:45
what can this league do to make sure
10:46
that it gets five six seven maybe eight
10:49
or nine teams in the tournament well I'm
10:52
you know I grew up right outside of
10:54
Washington DC I was born in Winston
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Salem and I grew up with the ACC turn
10:59
tournament in the ACC you know
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um uh conference in um I know that I'm
11:06
biased but I think it's the best
11:07
conference in college basketball and
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um you compete against Wake Forest and
11:19
Syracuse and Louisville and Boston
11:21
College every
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night come firsthand and see the
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competition and how not only does this
11:29
conference produce unbelievable teams
11:31
but unbelievable teams that do great in
11:33
the tournament that have incredible
11:36
players that go to the next level and
11:38
have outstanding NBA careers as well
11:42
we'll take three more questions front
11:44
row coach Steve Reed from the Associated
11:46
Press with that said do you feel like
11:48
this team has earned a spot in the NCA
11:49
tournament especially after this win you
11:52
know the thing that I always focus on is
11:55
what is real and so you asked that a
11:58
similar question to been and my
12:01
communication with them in regards
12:03
[Music]
12:04
to the NCAA tournament has been
12:08
zero um what is real for us is our
12:11
Improvement as a team what is real for
12:13
us has been the opponent right in front
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of us right now it's playing Duke
12:18
tomorrow at 7 and those are the things
12:19
that we're focused on I just I've always
12:22
believed this from coach smth and Coach
12:24
guthridge if you just focus on the
12:26
preparation the the process in your play
12:29
everything else will take care of itself
12:31
and so that's where our focus is on and
12:34
I feel like we're getting better and we
12:36
feel like we're improving third row by
12:39
the holiday.com you held Wake Forest to
12:41
34% shooting two of 22 from three there
12:45
were a lot of long possessions uh
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including a number of shot clock
12:50
violations how satisfying was it for you
12:53
as their coach to see those long
12:55
possessions and see wake really struggle
12:57
to get a shot I like the long
12:59
possessions I don't know if they like
13:00
the long possessions but you know one of
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the things that we always say to each
13:04
other for everything but specifically
13:07
from a defensive standpoint is whatever
13:09
it takes and I can't tell you
13:14
like just the communication in the
13:16
Huddle now we've got multiple players in
13:19
the Huddle saying whatever it takes
13:21
whatever it takes just to get a stop
13:23
whatever it takes to finish the
13:24
possession with the box out rebound
13:26
whatever it takes to defend without foul
13:29
and so now it's going from player to
13:31
player and they have really bought into
13:34
it whether it's playing defense for five
13:37
seconds or 30 seconds whatever it takes
13:39
let's see if we can get a stop because
13:41
if we can get a stop and a rebound then
13:42
we get to go in transition where we've
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been consistently good all season last
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question back of the room coach the
13:49
first four minutes of each half or two
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of the segments are probably most
13:53
important in your game can you got off
13:55
to a slow start but can you talk about
13:57
you came out of the locker room after
13:58
halftime it seemed to set the tone for
14:00
the rest of the game for you yeah it did
14:02
I mean we you know I talked to the team
14:05
throughout the whole game and and kind
14:06
of chop up the game in in four minute
14:09
Parts you know at the beginning of the
14:11
game hey let's make this the best four
14:13
minutes let's get multiple stops to
14:15
start the game and then at the 12 8
14:18
Minute Mark let's make this the best
14:19
four minutes we've played all game
14:21
coming out of half let's set the tone
14:24
for the first four minutes it starts
14:26
with defense rebounding taking care of
14:28
the basketball and so and then the last
14:30
four or 3 minutes hey here we are let's
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tighten the screws on the discipline and
14:34
details and let's execute on both ends
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of the floor so that's communication
14:37
that uh us as a team has consistently
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throughout the game not just at the
14:42
beginning of the game or the beginning
14:43
of the second half thanks coach thank
14:46
you see you tomorrow yeah see you
14:48
tomorrow
14:55
[Music]
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